Three Sugars and a Spoonful of Insecurity
by Kmouxe
Summary: A story about the not-so-simple life of triplets with amazing talents; Kairi, Namine, and Xion. Told from the point of view of Xion, the three girls traverse through the confusing cesspool of life known as high school, and learn to overcome their difficulties, differences, insecurities, and of course, boys, to discover the true meaning of the word 'sisterhood.'
1. Slamming Doors and Dodgeball

_Some call me a brainiac. Some call me a smartypants. The more daring and probably the honest call me smartass. But the most correct thing to call me is probably the thing I'm called the most._

_Nerd._

_I am a nerd. I admit this and accept it. I don't adamantly deny it, or hold grudges against those who hurl those words at me with a smug, hateful sneer._

_I simply pity those people. Pity those people who are jealous enough to insult and abuse me simply by the fact that I am, have been, and always will be more intelligent than them. It's kind of pathetic._

_Still, I get those envious looks, those glared daggers, and those hate filled messages, but over the years I learned to ignore them and they eventually faded. I guess my indifference towards such petty, childish notions finally got my point across that 'I don't care about your meaningless insecurities and misdirected rage' was finally starting to sink in._

_That or my oldest sister who knows martial arts and wasn't going to 'have any of that bullshit with my little sister.'_

_Or maybe it was the middle child's pleas of, "please leave her alone, she's really nice. I think you'd like her if you'd just get to know her."_

_They were always the favorites. The pretty ones._

_Yes, everyone adored Kairi and Namine._

_The athletic Kairi, who could outrun anyone, boy or girl, in the city. She could catch any ball thrown at her. She could make every shot she threw. She could score any goal, hit any homerun, kick any fieldgoal, and match any point. Her fiery red hair shined like the fire in her strong blue eyes whenever she competed, hard earned sweat running down her tanned flesh. There was no competition when Kairi stepped onto the field, the game was already hers to win. Captain of every sports team, head of the cheerleaders, student council president, most popular and outgoing girl on the planet. She was the athlete._

_And Namine, sweet, pretty, kind and gentle Namine. People said she was like an angel walking among us. With the feather lightness of her soft, blonde hair, and the smooth paleness of her flawless skin, it was hard not to believe it. She sang like the angel people made her out to be. Music flowed through her like a river of song, played through her fingers on most any instrument. Flute, violin, cello, viola, piccolo, guitar, clarinet, trumpet, harp, guitar, even the ukulele. Not only did music come so easily to her, but visual art as well. Her hands move so delicately, yet so surely across paper, canvas, any surface she could work her artistic magic on. Not even food or fancy footwork escaped her artistic prowess. She was the artist._

_And then there was me, Xion, the tech savvy, super genius with little to no appreciation for my existence. The brain._

_Kairi and Namine got awards, medals, fame, and love. I got a pat on the back and an A+. Whoopdie doo._

_I suppose I'm being a bit negative here, but honestly, if anyone had sister like mine, they deserved a little bitterness every once in a while._

_I love my sisters, but they can really make me feel unimportant. _

_I don't blame them, not at all. I just wish that sometimes, the universe would stop being such an asshole and give just a little bit to work with here._

"Xion, let's go! We're gonna be late!" Kairi called, rushing by Xion's bedroom and slinging her pink 'Enchanted Dominion' backpack over her shoulder. Xion sighed, shut her recently attained journal and pushed herself away from her desk, her rolling chair wheeling backwards before colliding with the soft edge of her bed. Xion stood up, hoisting up her own dark grey 'Replika 14' bag, which was considerably heavier than a normal teen's considering all of the text books Xion carried for her advanced classes. Xion hurried down the stairs, grabbing an apple from the fruit basket on the counter and heading out the door after Kairi. The redhead was already in the cherry-red convertible she'd gotten for her sixteenth birthday, revving the engine to life and honking the horn for Xion to 'hurry it up!' Xion just rolled her eyes and hopped into the passenger's seat, tossing her bag in the back next to Kairi's pink one and over-sized duffel bag.

"And remember, Nams is coming home today, so we-"

"Gotta hurry our asses out of the school to go and get her from the airport, I know, I know Kai. You've told me at least fifty times," Xion stated dryly, cutting off her older sister. Kairi just grinned and elbowed her sister as she pulled out of the driveway and sped down the street.

"I'm just excited that she's finally coming home from Russia with Aunt Rinoa. Do you think she knows any Russian now?" Kairi asked excitedly. Xion chuckled. Kairi always seemed more excited than anyone, even Namine, whenever the second daughter left the country to study the arts. Last time it was Italy, before that was Spain, and now it was Russia, to meet with the Russian ballet.

"Well, if it's anything like France was, she won't stop speaking Russian until Christmas," Xion stated, laughing. The first trip Aunt Rinoa had ever taken Namine on was her trip to France, to study the famous art museums, so of course, she took her favorite niece with. Namine had been nine, and the trip had been three months long; all summer. By the time Namine had come home, she had practically forgotten how to speak English! To this day Namine still slipped a little french into her normal conversations. Not that many people could tell with what little the blonde girl actually spoke.

Most trips Aunt Rinoa had taken Namine on after the whole France thing were shortened considerably, but the time span was gradually increasing again. The trip to Russia had lasted a little over two months, more than enough time to learn enough Russian to be considered fluent Xion supposed.

"I can't wait for her to come back," Kairi said happily, tapping the wheel along to the song she had playing on her favorite radio station, 81.7 TWEWY, hosted by Neku Sakuraba, a Junior at their school, who had gotten a DJ-ing job, followed by an offer from a broadcasting company, and promptly made the station the most popular one in Destiny Islands. "It's not the same without her here. The Wise triplets just aren't complete without her."

Xion scoffed, "Yeah right. You just miss her cooking."

Kairi turned to her younger sister, aghast. "That's not true!"

"Eyes on the road!" Xion screeched, clutching her seat for dear life. Kairi reverted her eyes to the road, gasping in fright as the car in front of them honked, and swerving back into the proper lane before they collided. Kairi took a deep breath when they got out of cussing range and pursed her lips.

"At least not entirely true."

Xion just raised an accusatory eyebrow at her sister and laughed. Kairi grinned and sped down the street towards their school, Paopu High School.

Xion always thought it was stupid to name the school after a fruit, even if the fruit was 'legendary.' It could've been named after a scientist, or a revolutionary, or someone important to society, but no. We had to name our high school after a dumb fruit shaped like a star. Lame. Even the mascot '_the Wayfinders_' was lame.

Still, Kairi would always insist that the Paopu fruit was incredible, and the Wayfinders romantic, but Xion wasn't buying it. See, the whole legend goes something like you share the fruit with someone you love and your destinies will be intertwined forever.

Completely ridiculous. How could a hand-sized yellow fruit possibly link destinies together forever? It couldn't. End of story.

Kairi pulled into a parking space near the entrance and killed the engine. She hopped out of the car, taking the key with her, and yanked her two bags out of the back seat, as well as Xion's bag.

"Catch!"She picked it up with one hand and tossed it at her younger sibling as if it were little more than a feather pillow. Xion's eyes widened and she clumsily caught the projectile backpack. It slammed painfully into her stomach with enough force to knock Xion onto her butt. Kairi winced as Xion hit the ground and smiled sheepishly.

"Sorry...?"

Xion scowled at her sister, who laughed nervously in return, when a high-pitched girl's voice called her.

"Kairi! How was your summer!" Kairi's eyes lit up.

"Selphie! How's it going!" Instantly forgetting about her sister, Kairi rushed to embrace her close friend, and the two chatted animatedly about their summers. When Kairi had gotten a considerable distance away, she suddenly remembered about her sister and whirled around, shouting, "See you later Xion! And remember! Don't be late!" Kairi waved animatedly, and Selphie gave Xion a friendly smile, even though they hadn't really talked before. Xion, picking herself off of the ground, smiled awkwardly and waved back. Even from a distance, she could hear Selphie telling her older sister, "She's kinda weird," and Kairi responding with the usual, "Yeah, but we love her anyways!"

Xion sighed, hoisting her bag over her shoulders and slowly marching towards the entrance of the school. Another boring year of learning the things she already knew and putting up with the dumbasses that tormented her endlessly every year, namely-

"Hey there your smartness," a deep voice said from behind her. Xion groaned.

Riku.

"What do you want lady hair?" Xion hissed, turning her head to face her foremost offender. Ever since Xion and her family moved to Destiny Islands when she and her sisters were five, Riku picked on her constantly. From hair pulling as little kids, to mean rumors as teens, Riku had been around to screw with Xion's life every step of the way.

"You know, most girls in this school would give anything to be in your shoes right now,"

Lucky her.

"Do you need something from me, or are you just going to waste my time and kill my brain cells with your presence?" Xion snapped, folding her arms across her chest. Riku's eyebrow twitched in irritation, and Xion knew she had insulted him, a fact that she was quite proud of. He glared at her for a second, before his gaze traveled down below her shoulders and he smirked.

"I see someone hasn't done any growing since last year," Riku chuckled, "Or the year before _that_, or the year before _that_, or since you moved in," his smug grin grew as Xion's mouth dropped in disgust.

Xion scoffed. She had an trigonometry class to get to, and she wasn't about to be late on account of an arrogant meat-head who used more hair product than Kairi did.

She sped passed the silver haired boy, glancing behind her to find, to her dismay, that he was following her. She went into a full out sprint to her classroom, which was thankfully nearby, and slammed the door in his face. Xion heard a loud thump, the door vibrating, and a loud curse from other side of the wood. She smirk, deducing that in his haste to catch her, he hadn't been able to stop in time and ran face-first into the door at full force.

That certainly made her day.

The rest of her day was uneventful, boring, and filled with introductions that she neither payed attention to nor cared about. She didn't talk to anyone and no one talked to her. At lunch, she sat with a quiet kid named Zexion, and the two shared each other's silent, neutral company, since neither of their friends had the same lunch period. Gym was her last class of the day, and, because of her weird schedule, her class was a co-ed one, rather than an all girls gym class.

Xion _hated_ gym.

Out of the three sisters, she was the worst athlete. People would think Namine was the bad athlete, but no. Namine had her dancing to keep her muscles strong, and her singing and wind instruments to give her a large lung capacity. Sure, she wasn't the fastest, nor the most coordinated, but she was definitely leagues better than Xion.

Xion could calculate any throw,shot, pass, kick, swing, catch, and so on, but theory was a lot different from reality.

Her gym teacher thought dodgeball would be the best 'get to know your classmates' thing to do on their first day back to school, so Xion somehow found herself standing in a line of teenagers, ready to get pounded and tear each other to shreds with rough, rubber balls legendary for braking noses and killing the hopes and dreams of the weak.

A certain silver haired jackass grinned at Xion from the opposing end of the gym. His forehead was red from what Xion assumed was his little run in with the door of her trigonometry classroom, and she could tell he was out for revenge.

Things were looking grim for Xion.

"C'mon Shi, we can take him!" a familiar voice said. Xion turned towards the speaker to be greeted with familiar cobalt eyes and set of messy blonde spikes.

"Roxas!" Xion exclaimed, a smile spreading across her face. She hugged her old friend and the duo laughed.

"It's good to see you Xion," Roxas chuckled. Xion blushed, the vibrations from his chest when he laughed reverberating through her.

"You too Roxas,"

"Hey, what about me? Don't I get a welcome back hug?" A tall, slender teen with vibrant green eyes and red hair bearing great semblance to a porcupine strutted towards them. His quirked grin proudly displayed the odd, tear-drop tattoos on his cheeks.

"Axel!" Roxas and Xion called in unison hugging their tall friend.

"What're you doing in the junior gym class?" Roxas asked, releasing his friend from his grip, Xion shortly following suit.

"You're looking at the newest Senior Leader teacher assistant," Axel bragged, posing dramatically and jabbing a thumb into his chest. Xion and Roxas exchanged suspicious glances.

"They let you be a Senior Leader?" Xion asked, putting her hands on her hips, "Are you sure you're responsible enough?"

"Hey!" Axel exclaimed, frowning, "I am _very_ responsible, got it memorized?"

Roxas and Xion laughed, and Axel soon joined in. The three laughed together until the teacher blew the whistle, signaling everyone to get to their starting positions. Much to their delight, Axel got to join in the game on Xion and Roxas' team.

At the second whistle, all the players charged forward to collect dodgeballs. Roxas easily beat out everyone to the center of the field, snatching up two dodgeballs, shortly followed by Axel with two of his own. Xion stayed behind to direct her two friends on where to fire.

"Axel, your one'o'clock! Roxas to your left! Duck!" The three worked together flawlessly, like a well-oiled machine, taking out student by student, one after another.

Until Axel decided to try and show off, getting pegged in the forehead by the other team's Senior Leader, Saix. Saix was quickly taken out afterwards by a quick shot from Roxas.

With Axel gone, their team was considerably weaker, and the number of players soon dwindled down to just Roxas and Xion.

Fortunately, the other team had also been lowered to just Riku, and a boy named Seifer who had a nasty grudge against Roxas. Seifer threw a hard shot at Roxas, who easily caught the ball and had a player returned to their team, while Seifer sat down on the sidelines, dejected. Riku quickly hit the kid who had just joined their team, Yuna, and then hurled a ball at not Roxas, but Xion.

Xion gasped, blocking her face with her arms and squeezing her eyes shut, but the rubber never impacted her flesh. Cautiously opening her eyes, she gasped when she saw Roxas picking himself up off of the floor, a red rubber ball rolling away slowly. He stood up and grinned at Xion, mouthing, "Good luck."

Xion watched, wide-eyes, as her only protection against the silver-haired menace sauntered off the court and onto the sidelines next to Axel. Turning her attention back to Riku, she gulped.

That grin on his face did not look very promising.

Riku smugly tossed a ball up and down, toying with Xion, building the pressure. When Riku finally lobed the dodgeball at her, time seemed to slow down.

Squeaking in fright, Xion ducked down, taking up fetal position.

Much to her surprise, the ball didn't connect with her face. It hit the wall.

It hit the wall.

Riku missed.

Xion looked up, staring right into the face of a dumbfounded Riku, who stared back in shock.

Riku didn't have any more dodgeballs on his side of the court.

Xion stood up, rushing to the nearest dodgeballs, picking up two at once, her team cheering her on loudly. Xion turned back to face Riku, smiling now that she had gained the upped hand.

Riku, now recovered from his shame of missing, smirked.

"C'mon flatty! Show me what you got! Not like you're good enough to hit me anyways,"

Xion's eye twitched. Now she was mad. She blindly hurled the ball in her left hand, which flew high over Riku's head. He watched it bounce against the wall.

"Ha! Is that the best you can d-" His taunt was cut off when a red ball slammed hard into his face. Xion's distract and destroy tactic, as she predicted, worked flawlessly.

Riku doubled over, clutching his face. Xion's team immediately raced onto the court, hoisting her into the air and chanting her name.

Needless to say, Xion was feeling pretty good by the time the bell rang to signal the end of the day.

By the time Xion said goodbye to Roxas and Axel, and had raced out of the school and towards Kairi's car, the redhead had already sent her around two dozen texts and an excitable voicemail.

"What took you so long!" Kairi exclaimed, already pulling out as Xion hopped into the passenger's seat and tossed her bag into the back.

"Sorry, Axel took my phone," Xion apologized buckling in. Kairi gave a frustrated sigh.

"Remind me to kill him later."

"Will do."

Kairi broke a dozen speed limits in her mad race for the airport, chanting a mantra of, "We are so late late late so late so late," the entire ride there.

At the airport, a blonde-haired teen sat on top of her pile of luggage, girlishly kicking her feet while waiting for her ride to arrive. Her brown, low-heeled ankle boots clacked quietly with the side of the suitcase she sat on with every kick, the hem of her pale blue, white polka-dotted, peter-pan collared dress floating gently with the motion of her long legs. She smiled when a cherry red sports car screeched to a halt in front of her.

"Namine!" Kairi squealed in excitement, leaping out of her car to embrace her little sister. Kairi flung herself at Namine, nearly knocking over her luggage in the process.

"It's nice to see you again Kairi," Namine said, hugging her older sister tightly. Xion quickly rushed over to join the little reunion. Jumping on top of the other two girls, Xion knocked them both over into Namine's luggage, the sisters giggling in joy of seeing one another again. It earned quite a few curious glances from nearby onlookers, but the triplets just ignored them.

"I am so happy you're home Namine!" Kairi gushed, "You need to tell us _everything_! Like, was the food good? And were there cute guys? And did you have fun? Was it pretty?" Kairi continued to prattle on as she helped Namine get her things into the trunk. Whatever didn't fit got stuffed in the backseat, which Xion now had to sit in, not that she really minded.

"It was so pretty there, but it was cold! Summer in Russia is very different than the hot summers here," Namine laughed, recounting tales from her travels, including a story about how Rinoa had somehow gotten her their Uncle Squall's luggage onto the wrong train, and they had to wait for hours until the train came back with all of his things.

"He gave Aunt Rinoa the silent treatment for hours, and then she got mad and took me on a shopping spree _with his credit card_! You should have seen the look on his face when he finally found us! He looked like a kicked puppy!" Namine laughed. Xion and Kairi burst out in laughter. Aunt Rinoa was the coolest person they knew, if not a little spoiled. She and their Uncle Squall had met in high school, and were total opposites. How they ever got together, the girls never knew, but they were perfect nonetheless. He was so serious and broody though, they had never figured out how Aunt Rinoa had gotten such an intimidating guy wrapped around her finger like that.

The three girls exchanged stories of their eventful summer the entire ride home, before parting ways inside of their massive mansion to wash up and head off to sleep. Namine and Kairi both disappeared behind their bedroom doors, giggling and waving at each other and to Xion, who giggled and waved back.

Xion plopped tiredly down on her bed, plucking her diary from her nightstand.

It was a worn leather notebook, easily as thick as any of her textbooks, and stuffed with scraps of paper and old photographs. Xion hastily opened to a new page, already beginning to recant the day she was about to write about, giggling when she remembered hitting stupid Riku in the face with a dodgeball, sharing stories with her much loved sisters, and...

Roxas.

Xion sighed dreamily and smiled, gently placing her moogle pen on the page and writing out in big, loopy letters: Dear Diary.

* * *

A/N: Just a little thing that smacked me in the head like a baseball bat.

I'm super excited about this story, but I probably won't update it as much as Magia Logica. I just wanted to take a little break to I wouldn't kill my inspiration for that story.

Anywho, this story is told mainly from Xion's point of view, and is about the everyone's favorite female trio: Kairi, Namine, and Xion.

The three are triplets from Radiant Garden who moved to Destiny Islands at a very young age. All three are amazingly talented, but Xion has some massive insecurities, particularly towards her 'perfect' sisters. They all work at a cafe in Downtown Destiny, run by Aqua. the story goes through the daily lives and drama the three girls face, particularly Xion, as they realize their, strengths, weaknesses, and true meaning behind the word 'sisterhood.' Xion will learn, throughout the story, that life can be very unfair, but not for her alone, and that everyone has their own demons. She faces the cruelty of love unrequited in the form of her best friend/secret crush, Roxas, and discovers a passion for an outlet she had never even considered before, yet used all of the time: writing. Follow the triplet's struggle through the confusion of high school, romance, and family, as they learn lessons in life from places they least expect.

And the whole Senior Leaders thing is something they do at our school in the gym classes to help underclassmen with the transition from middle school to high school, but they can be in any gym class. They pretty much just record things and help out the teaches with warm ups and instructions.

Props to anyone who can figure out the entire meaning behind the radio station name, including the numbers.


	2. Serenading Stalkers in the Courtyard

Xion rose the next morning with a page of her journal glued to her face with dried drool.

Gross.

Scrunching her nose in distaste, Xion flung the journal away, viciously rubbing the excess dry saliva from her mouth. When she was thoroughly satisfied with the results, she slowly dragged herself to her personal bathroom, a built in extension to her bedroom. Each of her sisters had one, each to varying degrees of cleanliness. As far as Xion was aware, the only time Kairi's bathroom was ever cleaned of all of her make-up and dirty laundry was when the maids came in once every few months for deep cleaning. The maids come in every week for a light touch-up of the house, but gave up on cleaning the bathrooms every week due to Kairi's messy habits.

Namine's bathroom, while considerably cleaner than Kairi's, always had a certain degree of paint all over the sink, tub, towels, and mirror. Paintbrushes in water glasses and empty tubes of paint littered the counter tops, and remained there, no matter how many times the timid blonde attempted to clear it up.

Xion's bathroom was by far the cleanest and tidiest of the triplets. Xion strongly believed in cleanliness close to godliness and detailed organization, to keep from getting flustered should anything unexpected happen. Kairi and Namine on the other hand, often ran into a great deal of trouble when it came to organizing their things.

Like their bathrooms.

Note to Xion: Teach Namine and Kairi how to use a sponge.

Stepping into her (spotless) bathroom, Xion cranked the shower on, allowing the water to run and warm up before jumping in. Xion looked in the mirror, rubbing her tired eyes and staring displeased at the reflection staring back. She poked at the visible bags under her eyes, stretching and prodding them, trying to remember how long she had stayed up confiding about her day to her journal.

Xion tiredly stretched out her back, raising her arms high above her head, the sounds of her muscles popping pleasing to her ears, when she remembered something that, for some reason, suddenly bothered her very much.

_"Looks like someone hasn't grown at all from last year,"_ Riku's voice taunted from a memory. Xion frowned, staring long and hard at her reflection in the mirror, particularly at her chest. Flat as a cutting board and easily mistakable for a thirteen year old _boy's _rather than a _sixteen_ year old _girl's._ Turning around and craning her neck over her shoulder, Xion found decidedly similar and disappointing results with her rear end.

Sighing in frustration, Xion stripped out of her pajamas and jumped into the shower, hoping the warm water would wash away her worries.

It didn't.

Irritable from her self-pitying(and fully aware of said self-pitying), Xion shut the water off roughly, slamming the knob that controlled the flow of water back to shut off the stream. Xion dried herself off quickly with the plush, green towel hanging off the towel rack and changed quickly into a plain black hoodie, a band tee, and some grey shorts. Slipping into her worn grey chucks, she stomped down the stairs and into the kitchen, toting her heavy schoolbag behind her grumpily.

Kairi and Namine were both in the kitchen, waiting for Xion. Kairi was sitting at the table, enjoying her breakfast and Namine sat at the counter, already full and doodling in one of her many sketchbooks. When she stormed down the stairs like a pouty child, Kairi and Namine exchanged glances.

"You ok Xi?" Kairi asked, biting into the pancakes that smelled so good that Namine must have made them. Xion grumbled in response, taking her own plate of pancakes, bacon, and omelette that Namine handed to her from her seat at the counter, shutting her sketchbook to talk to her sisters.

"Xion?" Namine questioned, cocking her head to the side and furrowing her eyebrows. Xion looked away, guilty, only to find Kairi giving her the same look from the kitchen table. Xion swore under her breath.

Her damn sisters, knowing how to guilt trip her with their stupid puppy dog eyes... that she herself used just as much against them.

Not the point.

Xion growled in frustration, plopping into a chair at the table, slamming down her plate and shoving a forkful of eggs and pancake into her mouth.

"Just bothered by something Riku said yesterday, that's all," Xion grumbled, swallowing her food. Kairi frowned.

"You want me to kick his ass?" Kairi asked, pointing her fork at Xion. Namine tried to suppress her giggles and Xion cracked a smile as well.

"Nah," Xion sighed, "I'm just being dumb. Who cares what stupid Riku says anyways," Xion smiled, chomping on another forkful of food.

"His reflection?" Kairi offered. Xion nearly chocked on some bacon. Namine broke out into uncontrollable giggles, and Kairi grinned. The three identical girls ate their food happily, as they continued to hurl insults at Riku for insulting the raven-haired triplet.

Meanwhile, somewhere else on Destiny Islands, a certain silver-haired islander sneezed.

* * *

"Bye guys!" Kairi waved, jogging backwards towards the school building where Selphie and Rikku(no relation to Riku), a friend of Kairi's from the blitzball team, were waiting for her. Xion and Namine both waved after her, Namine pulling her portfolio and guitar case from the trunk, Xion hefting her heavy bag over her shoulder. When her bag was soundly set on her bag, Xion picked up Namine's considerably lighter, white 'Castle Memoria' bag and handed to her sister, who smiled softly and thanked her.

"So what's you're schedule look like?" Xion asked, glancing over at the paper Namine was looking over in her hand. She was carrying so many things, Xion had no idea how she had even managed to pull out that piece of paper unnoticed. Namine hummed thoughtfully.

"I don't think I would have any classes with you... I have fifth hour lunch, what about you?"

"Third," Xion sighed. So much for that. Most of Namine's classes were art or music related, and only half of her lunch hour was spent eating. She spent the other half in the choir room or courtyard, going over solos and arrangements or working on art projects with what little free time she had. More than half of the time, Namine just stayed out of the lunch room, spending her hour working on her music or art in peace and quiet. Last year, Namine and Xion had lunch together(Kairi complained incessantly about it) and Xion got to spend her whole lunch hour with her sister, enjoying the pleasant sounds of her music, or the calming scritch-scratching of Namine's pencil on one of her many sketchbooks. It was so peaceful, and a perfect environment for Xion to study in.

Now she had to sit with the one other loner in her lunch hour and try to ignore the idiots around her as they tried to start food fights while she worked on her physics homework.

Xion sighed inwardly, looking over Namine's schedule again before something caught her eye.

"Oh look! We have eighth hour gym together!" Xion cheered, pointing out the eighth period class on her sister's schedule. By some stroke of luck, Namine's weird schedule collided with Xion's weird schedule in their weird co-ed gym class. Namine smiled brightly.

"Thank goodness. It's always so nerve-wrecking when you don't have anyone you know in your classes," Namine sighed contentedly, holding a hand to her above her heart.

"Agreed," Xion giggled, remembering her ordeal during gym class the day prior.

The look on Riku's face when she pegged him with that dodgeball... she'll never forget it.

Xion was somewhat reluctant to wave goodbye to her sister once they reached her trigonometry classroom. She didn't know anyone in her class, since it was comprised mainly of Seniors and Xion herself was a Junior.

That and they were all pretentious assholes who hated her because she was younger and smarter than them.

Xion sat in her usual little corner in the back of the room by the window, staring aimlessly outside as her teacher walked in and began scribbling some trigonometric functions on the board that she already knew.

As the class droned on, a repetition of functions and numbers Xion already learned to do, she found her mind wandering to her eighth hour class, fantasizing about how it would be with her sister, closest friends, and her crush.

Maybe Namine would become friends with Roxas and Axel too? Just the thought of the four of them spending time together was enough to make Xion grin with anticipation.

She quickly pushed aside the uneasy feeling that settled in the pit of her stomach.

* * *

"Where'd you go chicken-wuss?" Seifer called, cackling like a hyena. Fuu and Rai followed closely behind, Rai laughing unsurely and Fuu as impassive as ever. Roxas pressed himself against the tree as much he could, trying to use the thick foliage growing around him as cover. Silently bending over and picking up a baseball-sized rock, he hurled it as far as he could away from himself in the direction of the school building.

Roxas heard Fuu yell, or as close as Fuu came to yelling,"There," and the trio took off in the direction of the school.

When Roxas was positive they were long gone and he was in the clear, he slumped against the tree and took a deep breath of relief.

Just his luck to have not only Seifer, but his two lackeys as well in his lunch hour with none of his own friends to back him up.

Checking the time on his phone, Roxas growled in frustration seeing as he spent half of his lunch hour getting chased out of the lunchroom and into the maze-like courtyard by Seifer. Roxas decided to just wander around the courtyard until the bell rang. No use in going back, since Seifer would only chase him down again and he wouldn't be able to eat anything by the time he got back.

Mindlessly kicking rocks around the courtyard, Roxas stumbled upon a large clearing he hadn't known existed in the courtyard.

It was beautiful. The circular area was fenced off by a low ledge just tall enough to sit on, but thick enough to take a nap on, made of abstract bricks of various shades of orange and brown. The area was paved with even, round rocks the same color as the brick ledge. There was a pleasant mixture of paopu-bearing palm trees and trees that bore various other fruits and flowers, tropical plants and flowers abundant. It gave the place an overall tropical, but cozy feel. In the center of the clearing was an island of rare flowers planted around an extravagant-looking tree, multi-colored glasses of various shapes and sizes hanging from it's limbs and branches.

Roxas was snapped out of his awe at the discovery of the secret clearing at the sound of a guitar, and the most angelic voice he had ever heard.

_"I can see all the footsteps left behind_  
_Every second I gave_  
_Every song was a snapshot of my life_  
_I needed something to say"_

On the other side of the island, a blonde sat with her back facing Roxas.

_"It started out in the last slow motion scene_  
_Watching everyone change_  
_Made a map of the one way road from here_  
_I had no reason to stay"_

Roxas unconsciously made as little noise as possible as he cautiously approached the girl from the other side of the island.

_"I am awake and alive_  
_There is something calling me_  
_More than a moment in time_  
_It's a dream I'm following on my own, on my own"_

_More than a moment in time_  
_It's a life of leaving home_

As Roxas sat down, a horrible feeling of guilt washed over him for reasons he didn't understand.

_Think of me when the stars come out tonight_  
_Take a look at the sky_  
_I never said that I could burn out that bright_  
_But I needed to try_

_I am awake and alive_  
_There is something calling me_  
_More than a moment in time_  
_It's a dream I'm following on my own, on my own_

_More than a moment in time_  
_It's a life of leaving home_

As the blonde girl continued to sing, Roxas couldn't help but watch her small back from where he sat on the right side of the girl, who was still unaware of his presence. She sang with so much feeling and gusto for such a small, shy-looking girl.

_The day that I found my voice_  
_I knew that I had no choice_  
_The only way that I'd ever learn to love_  
_Is if I found it on my own, on my own_

_I am awake and alive_  
_There is something calling me_  
_More than a moment in time_  
_It's a dream I'm following on my own, on my own_

_On my own, on my own_  
_More than a moment in time_  
_It's a life of leaving home_

When she finished her song, the girl sighed tiredly, like the song had sapped all of her strength away. She folded her arms over the shiny guitar and nestled her chin into them, staring thoughtfully into the distance. Or so Roxas guessed. He couldn't really see her face from where he sat.

The two sat in silence for a few moments until Roxas decided he should probably introduce himself at the risk of appearing to be a stalker by watching her creepily from behind.

"That was really pretty."

The blonde girl squeaked in fright and jumped comically into the air, almost toppling off of the ledge and flailed about, barely catching the acoustic guitar she'd nearly dropped. She whipped her head around in Roxas' direction. Her face was as red as a cherry and she hugged the guitar protectively to her chest. If he wasn't worried about giving off the wrong impression to the frightened girl, Roxas would've laughed at how much she looked like a child hugging a stuffed animal. Instead, he sheepishly scratched the back of his head, offering an apologetic smile for scaring her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

The blonde nodded shyly in response, clutching the guitar, that Roxas had noticed was covered in a beautifully painted on, intricate design that must've cost a fortune.

"Um, my name is Roxas," Roxas said, offering his hand. The girl looked at it, the red slowly fading from her cheeks.

"Namine," Namine offered a small smile, setting down the guitar gently on the ledge with one hand and taking Roxas' rough hands in her soft ones.

"Namine..." Roxas echoed, quite liking the way her name rolled off of his tongue so easily, like a refreshing drink of water. "What a pretty name..."

Namine giggled, a faint blush returning to her cheeks. "Why thank you Roxas, I like your name as well."

Now it was Roxas' turn to blush. Had he really said that out loud? Namine giggled again at the sight of his reddening cheeks. Roxas smiled and inspected the blonde girl that somehow flustered his usually level persona so easily. Her hazy blue eyes were large and doe-like, with long lashes. The blues in her eyes seemed to swirl around, as if the girl was perpetually lost in a dream. Her skin was very pale, particularly living in such a tropical, sunny place. Her flaxen hair was pale as well , like someone had washed the color away like water-color paint, save for her plump, pink lips and rosy cheeks. Overall, the girl had a rather mysterious quality that Roxas had never seen before in another girl, and it intrigued him. Still, she somehow reminded him of someone, but he just couldn't put his finger on who...

"Um, Roxas?" Namine cut off his train of thought, giving him an inquisitive look.

"Uh, yea?"

"You can let go of my hand now."

Roxas felt his face heat up even more and released his grip on the girl's hand, muttering an embarrassed apology. When Namine retracted her hand, his own felt unnaturally cold and empty.

He had to force himself not to grab her hand again.

The two teens stood quietly together, studying the other. Without warning, the bell signaling the end of the period rang and Roxas and Namine were pulled out of their little world in the secret clearing. Namine quickly gathered her things and placed her guitar inside of it's case before slinging it over her shoulder, her white messenger bag over the other. Before she could rush off in the other direction, Roxas frantically called out to her. "W-Wait!"

Namine stopped and turned to face him, cocking her head questioningly. Roxas gulped.

"W-would it be ok if I, uh, came to listen to you play again sometime? I don't really... have anyone... to talk to... this hour..." Roxas trailed off, embarrassed and feeling a little pathetic. He looked at her hopefully. The small 'O' shape of her mouth morphed into a smile.

"I would love that, Roxas," With a wave, Namine rushed out of sight and back towards the school. Roxas stood, a little relieved and a little surprised at his own actions and nervousness.

Namine.

The thought of the blonde haired girl made him smile dreamily.

The bell rang again, signaling the start of the next class period and Roxas cursed before racing back in the direction he came.

* * *

For the first time in forever, Xion was legitimately excited for gym class. The last time she had been even remotely happy about going to gym was when she was in second grade they had a free day because their teacher went into labor. Xion got to sit and read without any interruption from the other kids or teachers cause everyone else was too panicked about the woman giving birth underneath the basketball hoop.

While today wasn't a free day with a pregnant lady screaming, Xion did have her two best friend and sister in her gym class _and_ Riku was completely avoiding her after yesterday! DOUBLE BONUS!

Xion cheerfully strolled into the locker room, exchanging her normal clothes for her yellow gym shorts and grey gym shirt with 'Paopu High' scrawled across the front in tiny cursive letters on her right chest, a yellow paopu fruit pictured above it.

God, she hated their school.

As she was tying her grey gym shoes, Xion caught sight of Namine walking in, gym clothes and lock in hand. Their lockers were arranged by alphabet, so Namine's locker was right next to her own in the far end of the gym lockers, as the both shared a last name. Kairi's locker was to the left of Namine's but the eldest sister had an earlier gym class.

Xion grinned happily at the sight of her sister, who smiled back and prepared for her first day of gym.

The sisters walked out of the locker room together, happily talking about their day. Granted, Xion did most of the talking, but Namine politely nodded and answered when appropriate. Xion didn't know how her sister managed to be so polite and gentle all of the time; it seemed so tiresome.

"Yo, Shio!" Axel jogged towards Xion jovially, waving and grinning brightly. Xion smiled in return. "Hey Ax!"

The two friends high-fived and laughed. Grabbing Namine by the arm before she could disappear like she usually did whenever strangers were around, Xion shoved her forward at Axel. Namine collided with the taller boy and squeaked in fright. She jumped backwards, face bright red, and apologized profusely. Xion laughed. "Axel, this is my sister, Namine."

Namine hid her face from Axel underneath her bangs. Axel grinned. "Why, hello there Namine. The name's Axel. A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?"

Namine looked up tilted her head in confusion at the odd expression and Axel laughed, "Why aren't you cute like this all the time Xion?"

"Hey!" Xion cried back, indignantly. Axel laughed again, grabbing Xion in a headlock and giving her a noogie. "I'm just messing with you kid!"

Xion scrunched her nose and wriggled out of Axel's grip, glaring defiantly at him. "You're only a year older than us!"

"Ah," Axel corrected, "A year and ten months, got it memorized?" Xion rolled her eyes and fixed her hair while Namine giggled.

"Hey!" Axel exclaimed, making a big gesture with his hands, "Finally, a smile! I knew you could do it Namine!" Namine smiled shyly and Axel patted her head fondly. Xion watched the two interact almost like a brother and sister and smiled. She could put up with Axel's teasing about how uncute she was compared to her sister if it helped widen Namine's circle of friends even just a little bit. The three chatted idly while waiting for the teacher to instruct them on what they were doing today, when the boy's lock room door flew open, and a blond, spiky haired boy sprinted out.

The teacher looked up irritably from his attendance sheet to see who had dared be late to his class.

"Strife!" The potbellied teacher, Coach Phil, called out, "It's only the second day! Who do ya think ya are? Showin' up late on the second day a class. I oughta give you a detention for this!" Coach Phil was a short, fat man, with a pudgy red nose, face, hair, and beard. His legs bent oddly from some old training injury and his hair stuck out in odd places aside from here it was greased back, giving him the overall impression of a goat. Despite his sloppy appearance and infamously short temper, Coach Phil was a known softie who cared a lot for his kids. It was also a common known fact that he'd trained the famous athlete Hercules, and knowing a famous person never hurt anyone's reputation.

Roxas skidded to a halt and scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sorry Coach, I got held up a little. Someone stuck gum in my lock." Roxas shot a pointed glare at Seifer, who chuckled alongside Rai.

Coach Phil looked at Roxas sympathetically and sighed. "Alright kid, I'll let you off the hook. But just this once! Don't be late again, ya got that?"

Roxas smiled gratefully and nodded, "Yes sir!"

He hustled off to join his friends, waving and grinning.

"Hey, Axel, Xion! You won't believe what I found today!" Axel smirked, giving a two-fingered salute and Xion waved enthusiastically.

"Hey Roxas, I have someone I want you to meet!" Xion grinned happily. She went to grab Namine before she could shy away and hide behind Axel like the awkward turtle she is, but was greatly surprised to find her sister peeking out from behind Axel's frame facing Roxas openly with a smile.

"Hello Roxas," Namine said, smiling. Roxas' eyes doubled in width, and he tried to stop so suddenly from the shock that he stumbled and toppled over, somersaulting and popping back up to his feet.

That boy and his ridiculous reflexes. Anyone else would've faceplanted.

"H-hey Namine."

Xion looked between the two, puzzled. Had they met before? Xion had never knew Namine to talk to anyone on her own accord. Maybe something had happened to her in Russia? Xion pondered it, the strange queasiness she had felt earlier returning to her stomach.

Xion watched as Roxas interacted with Namine. Axel jumped into their conversation easily, saying something funny that made Roxas blush and elbow his taller friend while Namine giggled. The uneasiness tugged harder at her stomach and, despite how much Xion tried to suppress it, she felt a twinge of irritation with her older sister. Xion knew it wasn't Namine's fault that she fit in well with Roxas and Axel. Plus, this is what Xion had _wanted_ to happen...Right?

"Yo Xion! Earth to Xion!" Axel's hand waving in front of her face snapped Xion out of her thoughts. He, Roxas, and Namine stared at her worriedly.

"Ugh, do you ever wash your hands? Your hand smells like tuna and cigarettes," Xion growled, smacking Axel's hand out of her face. Axel grinned.

"Good, you're ok. I thought we lost you to International Space Sta-Xion for a second there," Axel laughed, ruffling her hair. Xion cried in protest, smacking Axel's hand away again. She glared at him, but the redhead only laughed as she smacked his shoulder lightly.

"Alrighty everyone!" Coach Phil called out, shoving his clipboard under his arm. "Our first unit is baseball! Partner up for some catching drills! Grab two mitts and a baseball, and head out onto the field!"

Before Xion could nab Namine and their equipment, Axel snatched her from reach.

"Uh-uh," Axel tutted, wagging a finger at Xion, "You get to see Namine everyday, so she's mine for today," Axel laughed as he ran away from the fuming Xion, toting Namine behind him.

"Guess it's the two of us today," Roxas said, scratching his head, staring after Axel and Namine. Xion was about to reply when she noticed something peculiar in Roxas' eyes.

Disappointment.

Xion tried to convince herself, admittedly quite pitifully, that Roxas was disappointed he wasn't partnered with Axel, but there have been occasions like this that they have encountered, and Roxas never looked like he did now. That and his constant gaze on Namine's figure, even as she and Axel spread apart to throw the ball to each other. He stared as they talked and laughed like a pair of old friends, even though they had only just met.

Roxas must've noticed Xion staring, because he turned to face her and grinned, any trace of the disappointment Xion sensed from a moment ago gone, and all the liveliness his eyes usually held restored.

Wishfully thinking, Xion dismissed the disappointment as a trick of the light.

Roxas and Xion had wasted so much time gawking at their friends, they had been the last pair to grab their equipment and thusly got the worst pick of the lot. Their mitts were smelly and riddled with holes and tears, and the fabric was so worn in the palm that Xion could see patches of skin underneath. The ball was little more than rags hastily stitched over a sphere.

Roxas and Xion threw the ball back and forth soundlessly for a while, Xion dropping the ball or throwing it wildly every once in a while.

"So..." Roxas said, trying to fill the silence, "Kairi is sports, you're brainy stuff, and Namine's..."

"Art," Xion finished, clumsily catching the ball in her mitt. She lobbed it back to Roxas. "Music, visual, crafts and the like."

Roxas skillfully caught the pass with one hand, "Makes sense." He threw it back to Xion distractedly, glancing once again at the blonde who laughed alongside Axel on the other side of the field. Xion missed the throw and had to chase the ball down.

Makes sense? What did he mean by that? How exactly did Roxas and Namine know each other?

Xion jogged back to her spot, throwing the ball to Roxas who caught it easily.

"So," Roxas said throwing the ball back to Xion, "are you and Namine close?"

Xion caught the ball and gave Roxas an odd look, "Uh, well, we kinda live together. Shared a womb and all," Xion said cautiously, underhanding the ball to Roxas.

"Oh, right...that was dumb," Roxas muttered, catching the ball. He and Xion continued to throw the ball back and forwards for a few minutes in silence.

The silence made Xion uncomfortable.

Roxas was always so lively and fun. He constantly teased and joked around with Xion, and was always so comfortable and easy to be around. He was so damn tense and uncomfortable today and Xion hated it.

"Hey Xion," Roxas said, catching the ball in his mitt and fiddling with it. "Does Namine... Do you know if Namine is, well... Does she _like_ anyone right now?"

Xion's eyes widened and the bad feeling in her stomach felt like she had just gotten punched by a brick wall.

It wasn't fair. It wasn't _fair_. No, it wasn't _possible_.

Roxas, the boy Xion had had a crush on for years, watched when he wasn't looking, dreamed about, wrote about, thought about all the time, liked her sister.

Roxas liked Namine.

Xion felt like crying.

* * *

A/N: SO MUCH DRAMA.

For the record, I make Xion overdramatic on purpose. It will be touched upon later.

So we get our first glimpse of the onesided Rokushi that will continue for a long ass time in this chapter. But don't worry, Riku will stop being an ass soon and help.

There's also a reason behind Riku's douchebaggery. Just trust me.

As for the song Namine sings, it's "Life of Leaving Home" by Yellowcard. Good song guys. There's a reason behind that song too.


End file.
